Gallup: Half of All Americans Call Obama Presidency 'Failure'

A new Gallup poll released Thursday reports that half of all Americans believe the Obama presidency has been a "failure" thus far.

Even the number of those saying it is a success (44 percent) falls far behind the number saying the same for Bill Clinton's administration just before his re-election bid in 1996 (64 percent).

Most who believe that Obama's presidency has been a failure are Republicans, but in what could be a grave development for President Obama, 53 percent of independents said the same.

Gallup also reports that "President Obama's average job approval rating for the month of February in Gallup Daily tracking was 45 percent, with 47 percent disapproving, unchanged from January. ... The 50 percent approval mark is a crucial one for presidents in a re-election year. All incumbents who have been elected to a second term had a 50 percent or higher average approval rating by February of that year, and in the case of all but George W. Bush, they maintained that through Election Day."

The latest Gallup numbers show an uptick for the president, with 48 percent approving and 44 percent disapproving.